


Excommunicated

by cl0wnf11sh



Category: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar, Sunless Sea
Genre: Cruel Zee-Gods, I haven’t the faintest idea what tags to put on this thing, Implied Cannibalism, Other, Time Loop, temporary major character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 04:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13849803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cl0wnf11sh/pseuds/cl0wnf11sh
Summary: Salt’s blessing, Salt’s curse.





	Excommunicated

A nightmare. Again. 

Colby Brannigan lies in a cold sweat under rough blankets. It takes them a second or two to process their surroundings and come back to themselves. They’re in the room they’ve rented at a local tavern.. but why? Why not at their room..?

Ah. Yes. 

They’ve been excommunicated. 

With a sigh, they stare out of the window. The docks are visible just over the jagged building-horizon, and the roiling, biting fear that always seems to follow them flares up. 

Today. They have to go out today. The zee has always terrified them, ever since they were a child- it takes so many lives, of course it has- but they’ve always been terrified of everything. Of death, of life, of wild dogs and feral cats and the suspicion that the people around them think poorly of their actions. What’s another fear? 

An old friend of theirs, the only one that still tolerated their presence after the.. incident, told them that their father’s bones are out there. Somewhere. Perhaps he will be more specific soon, but until then, Colby will look everywhere. A proper burial is what he deserves, no matter what sort of end he’s gone to, or what he did in life. 

They have a ship, now. The Sorrow Eye- old but reliable, hopefully. They will go out and find wealth, perhaps. Maybe a new god to replace the one that has abandoned them. As Colby tries and fails to tame their wild mane of black hair, they feel a sense of hope that has not graced their mind for years. Perhaps things will go their way. 

Three months later, everything has gone to hell. 

The Sorrow Eye is out of fuel. They’re somewhere near Mount Palmerston, but not close enough to make a landing- they could buy twenty barrels of fuel, with all the money they have now. Cursed echoes, they won’t do any good on the open zee. Food is running worryingly low, too, and too much of it has been ruined in the frantic search for something, _anything,_ that the engines will burn. 

Colby is terrified. They’d never tell any of their officers, or any of their crew, but they are quaking with fear for the lives of everyone on this ship. They will sink or starve, they’re sure of it. Only one thing to turn to. 

Salt. The zee-god of sad goodbyes had seemed a good fit for their new faith, and something about it had drawn Colby in. They make a prayer to him, now, hoping for some kind of help- and their vision blurs. The world around them shifts. 

When they realize that they really are somewhere different, they sob in relief. This isn’t London, but it’s somewhere different, and there’s more fuel in their engines now, maybe enough to get to a port.. if they can figure out where this place is. It is foreboding, fearmaking, it chills them, and their heart stops as their engineer gets to her feet with a passionate sigh, naming the stone edifice before them Kingeater’s Castle. 

Kingeater’s Castle. A week of travel from London. Days from any safe port. Too far. This is not a blessing from Salt, it is a curse. 

Colby tries to resist the urge to leap the rail and dive down, end it early, as they watch their engineer walk towards the alter as if in a trance, eyes starting to buzz. She’s going to die happy, at least. Once she finally hatches, they turn the prow-lamp off to save fuel and start into the open zee once again. They don’t have the heart to tell their crew that they’re all going to die. Maybe, maybe they can make it to another port, they tell them, but it’s a slim chance. The Castle is far from civilized lands, and food or fuel will be hard to find even if they do make landfall. 

They sail. The crew is hungry. They sail. They pass lightless islands full of webs and dust, and gigantic glowing pirate’s ships that could shatter their ship with one blast. They sail. Everyone is weak from starvation. Bodies begin to turn up. All the while, Colby prays in every empty moment- to Salt, for forgiveness, for mercy, for a second chance. Nothing happens. On the fifth day, the crew commits mutiny, and sets upon their captain in their quarters: even as they bleed out in their chair, they pray to Salt. Please. Please. Not yet. Not yet. They haven’t found him yet, just a little more time..

The world fades. 

Colby Brannigan lies in a cold sweat under rough blankets. It takes them a second or two to process their surroundings and come back to themselves. They’re in the room they’ve rented at a local tavern.. but why? Why not at their room..?

Ah. Yes. 

They’ve been excommunicated. 

Things proceed. A little differently, but largely the same. Colby is always hungry, in a way they can’t quite express, but it’s easily to ignore at times. They find comfort in their surgeon; her facade of professionalism hides a warm, caring heart, and the way she can deconstruct them with the same precision she treats a wound with makes them weak in the knees. But it doesn’t last. 

Two months after their first departure, the Sorrow Eye is a day from London, and their engine is running on fumes. Their food is gone, too. A crazed terror creeps into their mind, but they try to ignore it, and they keep on towards the lights in the distance. They delivered the souls, just like they were told to. If they can just get to London, they’ll be rewarded handsomely, and they can refuel, buy food for everyone. Just keep going. They can make it. They pray to Salt for some luck, help, whatever it can offer, but Salt does not answer.

They keep praying, even as their crew dies around them. Even as their friends die around them. Even as their beloved surgeon succumbs to the hunger like everyone else. Even as the light goes from their eyes, barely a hundred feet from harbor. Please. A second chance. Not yet. Please. 

A nightmare. Again. 

Colby Brannigan lies in a cold sweat under rough blankets.

And then, five months later. They depart from the Chapel of Lights, mind swirling with discontent. They found their father’s name, but only his first name, not where he was buried. Their first mate is working himself into an even deeper madness then before over the priest’s unwillingness to help him without a payment they don’t have, and the sermon they just attended to calm their nerves had the opposite effect. There was something wrong about the meat they served and how bloody it was, how it made the constant hunger in the pit of their stomach a little sharper then normal. 

Their mind is too distracted to notice the rock jutting out of the waves that wasn’t there before, and when it starts to move, the ship isn’t fast enough- it’s crushed to splinters between the side of the island and and Mount Nomad. They cry out the name of their god in terror before they’re dashed against the rocks, dead before they hit the water. 

A nightmare. Again. 

Colby Brannigan lies in a cold sweat under rough blankets. Their eyes are filled with tears, and they have to breathe for a long time before they rid themselves of the fear. They’re in the room in the tavern, of course, but why..? 

Ah. Yes. 

They’ve been excommunicated.

**Author's Note:**

> Sunless Sea is a good game, and I’m fully aware that I have other stuff to finish, but I had Ideas, dammit. Also, if anyone comes into my comment section telling me how it’s unrealistic and bad writing to have a nonbinary main character in a version of Victorian London, I’m going to assume you’re not familiar with the source material and ignore you.


End file.
